A collection of vegan recipes using okara, the pulpy byproduct of the soymilk- and tofu-making process.

May 13, 2012

chocolate-cherry (okara!) bread pudding

Do you make more than one batch of soymilk at a time? If so, you might be able to use up a lot of okara if you make this recipe, which calls for nearly two cups of the stuff!

I took one loaf of Trader Joe's par-baked ciabatta bread, which I did not bake as directed, and cut it into cubes. The package said the loaf was 8 ounces, but the scale said it was more like 11 ounces! In any case, I ended up with7 cups of cubed Italian bread

Take these bread cubes and distribute them evenly along the bottom of a well-oiled 9-inch by 13-inch baking pan.

Sprinkle
1/2 cup dried cherries
on top, ensuring that they are evenly distributed.

In a small pot over low heat, mix together
3 cups soy milk 12 ounces chocolate chips 2/3 cup sugar
until the chocolate has completely melted and is fully incorporated into the milk. Pour half of this chocolate mixture into a blender along with
1 3/4 cups okara 1 tsp. vanilla (I used vanilla paste!)
Liquefy completely. Add the rest of the chocolate mixture into the blender and blend thoroughly (if your blender is big enough -- otherwise do this in two batches).

When chocolate-okara mixture is completely liquefied, pour the mixture evenly over the bread cubes. Pat any floating cubes down into the chocolate mixture with a spatula or spoon to ensure that all of the bread is covered.

Cover the bread pudding with foil and allow it to sit for 30 minutes before transferring it to a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven. Bake for an hour and allow to cool for at least 20 minutes before serving. (I think it tastes better after cooling completely.)

Verdict: I think this tastes great, but it might be fun to experiment with liquids aside from soymilk. Perhaps coffee or some kind of liquor could give this dessert a deeper and richer flavor. But I'm not going to complain about a cherry-chocolate combination, and this was pretty easy to make!

About This Blog

Unless otherwise noted, I use "wet" okara when cooking; i.e., straight from the soymilk-making process, well drained but without additional squeezing or drying. Since there is variation in okara in terms of wetness, your mileage may vary when following these recipes. Let me know how they turn out for you!

If you don't have access to okara, it might be possible to substitute pureed tofu. I haven't tested these recipes using that substitution, but some of the muffin recipes (e.g., corn muffins and banana-nut muffins) were modified from recipes that originally used pureed tofu.

About Me

I started making my own soymilk to save money and cut down on waste ... only to discover that I was producing more okara than I could shake a stick at. Hence, this recipe blog.
Other than good vegan food, I love reading, writing, independent music, science, evidence-based medicine, and quality television.